CHRIS Coleman wants his Wales side to be “ruthless and horrible” today as they kick off their Euro 2016 campaign against Slovakia aiming to claim an “ugly” win.

Much of the attention will be on star men Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey but the Wales boss wants to get back to what he feels proved successful in the qualifying campaign.

And that means building from a rock solid base in defence first and foremost – something that was not in evidence in last week’s 3-0 friendly defeat in Sweden.

That woeful display extended Wales’ recent run to just one win in seven games but Coleman is confident his side will get back to basics and get it right when it really matters in Bordeaux this afternoon.

“We have got to remember what got us here,” said the man who has taken Wales to a first major tournament in 58 years.

“We can’t think that now we have to be this lovely pretty team and play this lovely swashbuckling football as we are in a tournament and the eyes are on us.

“It is about what makes the team good and successful. We have won ugly at times.

“I can’t say that in the campaign we were brilliant with the ball in every game. We were ruthless and that got us success.

“We know that we have one or two players who can make things happen.

“But as a team our strength is knowing what we are good at and what we are not good at.

“If you look at us in the campaign we were mean and don’t concede goals,” he added.

“We conceded four goals in the campaign and two in one game against Bosnia and another was a penalty.

“We need to be right at it, ruthless and horrible, and stick to a game plan that is not always pretty.

“We can play some good football, don’t get me wrong. If you have [Joe] Allen, Ramsey and Bale there will be moments in the game that when you go that is fantastic football.

“But it is all not like that for us. There are times when we have to defend for our lives.

“When we are like that and in that mentality we are good.”

And Coleman insists he is unconcerned by recent results – including defeats to Sweden, Ukraine and Holland.

He said: “What I do know about tournament football is that when the whistle goes it is not the team that goes into it in great form that will rip the tournament up.

“We have to get it right going into the first game and make sure that we do what we good at and not what we think we are good at.”

South Wales Argus: